Musee Cluny -Wednesday 5/23/2007

Heads of saints.

Mom and I went our separate ways for a few hours. I wanted to go to the Cluny Museum, which is hard to find in the guidebooks, because it's actual name is the Musee National du Moyen Age, or the National Museum of the Middle Ages. When Ms. Lyte and I were here in '83, we stayed in a hotel at the corner of St. Germaine and St. Michel, and could see down into the courtyard, but they were rennovating to create this museum, and we couldn't go in.

These guys fell out of favor for a while, I guess! This was formerly an outdoor courtyard, but it was glassed over. The light inside was wonderful.



I'm always amazed at the architectural details. I wish there were more opportunities to get up close and personal with them.


A reader!


Outside the Cluny. A good example of the arches that are so hard to get a good photo of inside the cathedrals.



Just a rustic fence in the park outside the Cluny. I sat here for a while and wrote.


Back to Shakespeare & Co. This time I bought a book for Hydra. This is the writer's room upstairs. I think they might hold their salons here.


Hands of Saint Therese at the church of Saint-Severin. It's just amazing the number of huge churches within blocks of each other. You can see this church from the courtyard of Saint Julien le Pauvre. I sat inside the latter and wrote some more. Something about these cathedrals makes me want to write. Maybe it's the resonance of all the hopes and fears expressed here for hundreds of years.


Mom and I walked back over here later and were surprised to see people going into St.-Severin around 7pm, after it was closed. We went in and were treated to the sound of a choir practicing while we looked around. Lovely!


Another reason to like the Bistro des Augustins. The great view over the carafe du vin.


And then there's their specialty, the gratin. This one was potatoes, tomatoes and lardons (bacon in...rectangular cubes; do a Google image search if you're curious) in a creme sauce, with cheese on top. WOW! It's a good thing we split one!